Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the Minister of State's final line, there is no evidence she is committed to supporting this sector. Every Minister that has responsibility, across three Departments, has run for cover. We have not even been in a position to get the relevant Ministers to come before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to discuss the issues. Who is the independent expert commissioned by the Minister of State and when was the expert appointed? Last week, the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine met Bord na Móna, which was not aware an independent expert had been appointed and could not tell us who it was.

It does not matter who was appointed. Is the Minister of State aware that Bord na Móna has entered into a contract with an Israeli company and given it exclusive rights to the 2,000 tonnes of high grade horticultural peat in its remit? Bord na Móna is a State-owned company. It has unilaterally taken that move despite the Minister of State having a working paper that indicates an independent expert will engage with it. Mushroom growers in counties like Monaghan are asking where they will get peat in the short term. Will they have to import it or will the Minister of State provide the mechanisms for the peat to be provided here in Ireland, where it can be environmentally regulated?

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